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UK TROPICAL FOREST FORUM
BIODIVERSITY
WORKING GROUP
DRAFT TERMS OF REFERENCE
Purpose, focus and scope of action
Under the Forum mandate, the purpose of the Biodiversity Working Group is to assist in making the total UK contribution to the conservation, management and sustainable use of the biodiversity existing in, or derived from, tropical forests, more coherent and more effective.The focus of the Working Group activities also derives from the nature of the Forum, which brings together academics, from both biological and socio-economic fields, with conservation and development NGOs, government officials and representatives of trade and commercial interests in tropical forests. It is at the intersection of these different lines of expertise, and particularly in the attempts to reconcile development, for immediate local or national benefit, with the conservation of biodivesity, that the Forum Working Group is best placed to contribute, by facilitating the exchange of views, information and experience. The potential value of this contribution derives from the exceptional depth and breadth of information, and related expertise, in Britain's scientific institutions, and the extent to which the interdisciplinary links within the Forum can assist their deployment.
The conflicts between development and conservation, and related threats to biodiversity, are most acute in lands not yet part of secure, totally protected areas (national parks, nature reserves, etc), as well as increasingly in the location, and objectives of management, of such reserves, in relation to the interests of local people. The conservation role of forests, and forest lands, outside protected area systems, including their sustainable management for timber production, and/or non-timber forest products, has been a continuing element of the Working Group's discussions over the past few years. The Group played a key role in helping to define the agenda for the Limbe Conference on African Rainforests and the Conservation of Biodiversity (January, 1997) and the main elements of that agenda, namely:
- Biological inventory and monitoring
- Participatory approaches to forest management
- Institutional frameworks for forest conservation
- Valuing forest resources for conservation purposes
All these elements reflect important aspects of Working Group discussions.
The role of trees and forests in local livelihood systems, as a basis for participatory biodiversity conservation, has emerged as an important subject for interdisciplinary discussions. In this context, the scope of the Working Group interests extends to the conservation role of trees and other woody vegetation in agricultural lands, and wastelands, outside remaining areas of forest and woodland, as well as multiple-use and participatory forest management.
Programme of activities
Within the broad guidelines outlined above, the programme of the Group is decided by consensus among the Working Group participants, and is essentially dependent on the time and energy which they can devote to the activities. These are typically meetings, perhaps 3 or 4 times a year, supplemented by communication by post, fax, e-mail, etc. One outcome might be a larger workshop, or conference, from time to time, dependent on specific justification and finance.Participation is open to all UKTropical Forest Forum Participants who register an interest with the Forum secretariat.
